A Holiday Witch

January 01, 1990|The Morning Call

To the Editor:

Christmas morning 1989 brought a fine treat, Frank Whelan's article on the feast of the Epiphany in The Morning Call. Not even two egregious language blunders in the first paragraph could diminish my pleasure at the memories it evoked of Christmases past.

In the twenties, during the Yule season, my Italian grandmother -- Nonna -- would tell me the story of the Befana, a witch of a very special kind.

On Epiphany (Jan. 6) the Befana brought gifts to the children of Nonna's village on a Tuscan hilltop. If you were good, Nonna said, your gifts were marzipan candies, fruits, nuts and toys; if you were bad, you could expect only chunks of the blackest coal. As an American boy, I preferred Santa Claus but I confess to a fondness for an old hag bearing gifts so soon after Christmas.

In the Italian language, "befana" also popularly means the day of Epiphany itself and is often used instead of the more formal "epifania."